The United States’ 250th birthday celebration looked less like a national commemoration than a cheap, Trump-centric political rally, detached from the everyday reality of millions of Americans.

Independence Day increasingly feels repurposed as a celebration of one man rather than of a republic.

If that trajectory continues, the real test will not be the fireworks but the midterms: whether democratic institutions remain capable of constraining executive power, or whether political retaliation, institutional erosion, and the concentration of power become [the new normal.] (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/opioid-of-the-masses/489911/)

The measure of a democracy is not how loudly it celebrates its founding, but how well it protects the institutions meant to outlive any president.

The 250th edition of independence Day was a tragic display of ignorance, cupidity and political sectarianism orchestrated by the Trump elected regime.